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The $80k and the $100k numbers are the base salary. At the new job I'll be eligible for 15% bonus vs 10% at my current job. Also the new employer has agreed to fully take care of my relocation to CA including house hunting trip, moving stuff in the house, cars etc.

We are also moving to CA because of better job opportunities for my wife (who is in IT). Also we both plan to do our MBAs and there are better business schools in the Bay Area compared to Houston.

So will this kind of tip the scale in favor of CA?

How much seniority have you built up in TX that you would be giving up?

To me, the CA economy just looks shaky. They are essentially bankrupt while TX is in much better shape financially. I know you are not working for either government, but I wonder what the implications of CA's financial woes are going to be for people living there.

What about the relative stability of the 2 companies?

Keep in mind that if you work in CA, even if you move away, whatever part of your pension comes from the CA work, they will tax it (I am shaky on the details, but I know some people are stuck paying CA income tax on pension income even though they don't live there anymore).

At the same time it seems to me you want an excuse to go to CA. Well you don't need any particular excuse, go on and go there if that's what you want to do. Probably the most important thing is which company will give you the best opportunities *for you two*.

And like I said it depends how you live, how you spend, save, and invest, how much worse the cost of living will be in CA. I think it's a given that COI will go up, but without knowing your habits it's not possible to say how much.

Charles, you recently moved from AL to CA, how much of a COI hit did you take?

How much seniority have you built up in TX that you would be giving up?

I have very close to 4 years of work experience at my current company. It is an oilfield services company. This is my first job coming out of grad school and I don't think I want to be in a engineering/technical role in the oil industry all my life. I want to go out an experience other industries while my wife and I are still young and don't have any kids.

Quote:

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

What about the relative stability of the 2 companies?

As in any industry the oil industry is very cyclical. My current company has gone through multiple rounds of lay offs over the past 3 years during the recession and frankly I have been very scared at time of losing my job. But thankfully I have survived till now.

The new employer in California has a reputation of being very conservative in who they hire and rarely do any lay offs. They are not a small company (>5000 employees) and from what I heard during the interviews, they take very good care of their employees and do everything to keep them happy. I was very impressed and I think I will have a better job stability here than my current job.

Move to cali! Even if you standard of living wont be close to what you had in Texas, you will still love it over there. In time though, you will make more money. 80 k in Texas is a lot! In cali, not really. Considering a 3000 sq house in Texas would cost a couple of hundred grand, would run close to a milion dollars in California. Maybe I am wrong.

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